Delivery Processing in SAP Sales and Distribution

Delivery forms the central object in all ERP Logistics Execution module. Outbound delivery supports all shipping activities like Picking / Packing, Transportation & Goods Issue. In outbound delivery process planning of shipping information is recorded and further activities like delivery scheduling etc. are initiated. Outbound delivery is created with reference to Sales order, Stock Transport Order, Subcontract order, Project or without any reference. In standard cycle Outbound delivery connects the sales order to billing and forms core part of Shipping activities.

Structure of Delivery

Delivery structure in system like any other sales document consists of Header and many items as visible in following figure.General data for entire document like shipping point ship-to party, route is at Header level. Data like material number,delivery quantity, plant &storage location specifications, weights & volumes of individual items etc. are in Item level data. Delivery document in system has a user friendly interface which facilitates easy navigation and switching between screens. Important data in a deliveries is contained in following three screens which in turn have several tabs.

Overview Screen
Presents user with main Header data of document and links to other screens to which user can navigate.

Header Screen
Screen has tab of various important header data which applies to the entire document. Eg. Of tabs shown below

Item Screen
Item screen displays data on individual items in a delivery. Item screen also has various tabs containing various relevant data.

During delivery creation data is copied from master records or previous documents in process flow. When delivery is created without reference, data from Ship-to party and material master is picked up. When delivery is created with reference, data is picked up from preceding document.

Delivery Types

Basic control of outbound deliveries is based on delivery types. Various delivery types are provided in system to cater to varying business scenarios:

Item categories in delivery control item behavior, these are copied from order item and same as item category in sales order. When delivery is created without reference they are determined in delivery via item category determination. Some standard delivery item categories are as under:

TAN Standard Item

TANN Free of Charge Item

TATX Text Item

DLN Standard item without reference

KBN Consignment fill-up

KLN Service free of Charge

TAXT Text Item

Delivery Features

Partial & Complete Delivery

In business scenarios customer specifies if complete or partial delivery of order is acceptable.

Complete Delivery: Complete delivery for a customer can be marked by indicator in Customer master or Sales order header, thereby when system creates delivery message is displayed if user tries to create partial deliveries. Indicator is ‘X’.

Partial Delivery: If Customer allows for partial deliveries for an item, corresponding indicator can be setup in Customer master Shipping data or in Sales document header.

Order Combination
This is actually a feature in Order to combine orders, order items or partially deliveries of individual order items in one delivery if this is agreed with customer. Order combination indicator has to be setup in Customer master or order header & order items & schedule lines must have following common criteria

Shipping point

Ship-to party

Incoterms

Sales Organization

Delivery Groups

Outbound deliveries can be combined into groups. These grouped deliveries can then be identified by group number. These groups are created manually and utility of these groups include that outputs can be processed for entire group or group can be processed for picking etc. An outbound delivery can belong to several groups if required.